Peak Spring Flood Discharge Magnitude and Timing in Natural Rivers across Northern Finland: Long-Term Variability, Trends, and Links to Climate Teleconnections

Abstract

In northern regions, like Finland, peak river discharge is principally controlled by maximum snowmelt runoff during spring (March–May). Global warming and climate change extensively influence both the quantity and temporal characteristics of peak discharge in northern rivers by altering snowpack accumulation and melt processes. This study analyzed peak spring flood discharge (PSFD) magnitude (PSFDM) and timing (PSFDT) in four natural rivers (Simojoki, Kuivajoki, Kiiminkijoki, and Temmesjoki) across northern Finland, in terms of long-term (1967–2011) variability, trends, and links to large-scale climate teleconnections. The PSFDM significantly (p < 0.05) declined in the Simojoki, Kuivajoki, and Kiiminkijoki rivers over time. Both the Simojoki and Kuivajoki rivers also experienced significant decreasing trends of about −0.33 and −0.3 (days year−1), respectively, in the PSFDT during 1967–2011. In these two rivers, the less and earlier PSFDs were principally attributable to the warmer spring seasons positively correlated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) in recent decades. Moreover, daily precipitation time series corresponding to the PSFD events showed no considerable effects on PSFDM and PSFDT changes in all the natural rivers studied. This suggests that less and earlier historical PSFDs in natural rivers at higher latitudes in northern Finland were primarily induced by warmer springtime temperatures influencing snowpack dynamics.

Long‐Term Variability and Trends in Snow Depth and Cover Days Throughout Iranian Mountain Ranges

“…Glaciers have experienced remarkable retreats in Iran (Farajzadeh & Karimi, 2014; Motiee et al., 2020), and over half of the glaciers are expected to disappear by the end of this century (Karimi et al., 2021). In other words, the mountain glaciers and snowline of Iran are highly vulnerable to climate change (Ghadimi et al., 2019), similar to many other regions around the world (Irannezhad et al., 2022a, 2022b, 2022c, 2022d). The findings suggest that precipitation should be closely monitored and considered in water resource management strategies, particularly in the Iranian mountain range where snowpack dynamics play a critical role in the water supply.…”

“…Declines in snow resources principally alter flow regimes in different water bodies (e.g., Irannezhad et al, 2022aIrannezhad et al, , 2022bIrannezhad et al, , 2022cIrannezhad et al, , 2022d throughout snow-dominant environments, resulting in significant depletion of springtime groundwater level (Okkonen & Kløve, 2010) as well as a substantial increase in the risk of summertime droughts. Besides, anthropogenic activities such as overexploiting of groundwater and uncontrolled pollution of freshwater resources have already deteriorated the quality of water resources in Iran (Sharifi et al, 2021;Torabi Haghighi et al, 2020).…”

“…Based on Irannezhad et al. (2022a, 2022b, 2022c, 2022d), hence, improving our knowledge about snow resource changes in response to global warming and climate change plays a critical role not only in attaining water security but also in achieving the 2030 United Nations (UN) Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations, 2015); particularly in developing countries due to their high density of human population, susceptible infrastructures, and poor land use development and management (Liu et al., 2017; Yin et al., 2011).…”

“…the Alps (Spandre et al, 2019), Canada (Shrestha et al, 2021), the Northern Hemisphere (Wang et al, 2018), and both Arctic (Sobota et al, 2020) and Antarctic regions (Irannezhad et al, 2022a(Irannezhad et al, , 2022b(Irannezhad et al, , 2022c(Irannezhad et al, , 2022d. The conversion of precipitation type from snowfall to rainfall is also one of the other most important anthropogenic global warming impacts on cold environments around the world (Dolant et al, 2018;Irannezhad et al, 2017;Łupikasza et al, 2019).…”

The Spatiotemporal Variability of Snowpack and Snowmelt Water 18O and 2H Isotopes in a Subarctic Catchment

“…Changes in air temperatures, precipitation patterns, and moisture conditions are producing unprecedented changes in snow accumulation and melt in northern regions (Arp et al., 2015; Irannezhad et al., 2022; Kiewiet et al., 2022; Rasouli et al., 2022; Rixen et al., 2022; Ruosteenoja et al., 2020; Vormoor et al., 2015). The changes in magnitude and timing of snow precipitation and snowmelt runoff have gradually resulted in a hydrological regime shift from a snowmelt to a rainfall‐dominated system in cold climate regions (Berghuijs et al., 2014; Bintanja & Andry, 2017), with varying feedbacks at a catchment scale (Ala‐aho et al., 2021; Meriö et al., 2019; Pi et al., 2021).…”